Cruise will bring history buffs to WWII battle sites

Jun. 7, 2013 - 08:46AM
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Visitors walk among the 9,387 graves at the Colleville American Military Cemetery in Colleville sur Mer, France, on June 6, the 69th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. (Remy de la Mauviniere / The Associated Press)

The National WWII Museum on Thursday announced plans for a World War II-focused cruise to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France.

The 70th Anniversary of D-Day Cruise, as it's being called, will kick off May 30, 2014, in Lisbon and include nearly a week of exploring the Normandy coast where the D-Day landings took place in June 1944.

The 10-day voyage aboard Silversea Cruises' 296-passenger Silver Cloud will feature such noted World War II historians and experts as Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson, Donald Miller and Robert Citino. Also on the voyage will be former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation, and Phil Reed, founder of London's Churchill Museum.

The highlight of the trip will be a five-night stay in the Caen Canal in the heart of Normandy, which will serve as a base for daily tours to the D-Day landing beaches and such D-Day sites as the Abbey de Caen, the Memorial de Caen, the Airborne Museum and Hill 314 at Mortain.

Organizers says participants will meet with veterans and French civilians who experienced the war firsthand at many of the sites.

Passengers also will take part in 70th anniversary ceremonies at the Normandy American Cemetery overlooking Normandy's Omaha Beach, where American forces landed during D-Day, and they will attend special after-hours receptions at the area's Utah Beach Museum and the Memorial de Caen.

Other D-Day-related stops include Pointe du Hoc, Sainte-Mere-Eglise, Pegasus Bridge as well as beaches where British and Canadian forces landed.